Toy Trucks Were Never This Fun Before!

Bigfoot 4X4 Inc. * ST. Louis, Missouri'08 Chevy 2500 HD Crew CabIf it weren't for the eye-catching paintjob, boomin' system, and sanitary fab work, I might wonder what the hell we were thinking when this truck was photographed for a feature in Sport Truck. After all, four-wheel steering and Dana 80 axles are the domain of true mud boggers, rockcrawlers, and of course, monster trucks. However, the more I look at this truck, study the build techniques, and remember who put it together, the more it seems right at home here in the pages of ST. It didn't hurt that this thing absolutely faded every other lifted rig at the SEMA Show this year either. Bigfoot 4x4 put this beast together in just over four months as a display piece for General Motors and injected more than just a bit of monster mayhem into the Crew Cab HD.

The first thing that interested me in this truck is the drop-down cradle system used to anchor the front and rear suspensions. Most of the truly big show trucks we've featured over the years have had some sort of cradle beneath the framerails and a questionable IFS, and included a maze of under-engineered tubes that made me cringe at the thought of taking the trucks anywhere but around the parking lot. The Bigfoot Silverado is different. The cradle is constructed of mild steel with a boxed design that gives the triangulated four-links a strong mounting location and looks functional and cool. The framerails are also boxed front to rear, but more importantly, the cradle maintains some decent geometry by lowering the suspension mounting points enough that the link bars aren't sitting at gnarly 60-degree angles at ride height. One can't argue with the ride quality of the adjustable Sway-A-Way coilover shocks either.

This Bigfoot is just one foot shorter than its seven monster truck brethren, too. Bigfoot 4x4 maintains a fleet of seven fullsize race trucks that all ride on 66-inch-tall tires. The Silverado rolls on 51-inch-tall Firestone radials that are locked onto 24x18 Trail Ready beadlock wheels. The net effect is a truck that's nine and half feet tall and over ten feet wide--not exactly legal, but small enough to be somewhat functional in any place other than a stadium or fairground. And unlike the real thing, this monster isn't powered by an alcohol-snorting big-block engine. Instead, it relies on the brute force of a well-tuned and modified Duramax diesel V-8 that's pumping out 800 horsepower and 1,200 lb-ft of torque thanks to 60 pounds of boost! The power is transmitted through a beefed up six-speed Allison trans to a pair of giant Dana 80 axles fitted with custom-built front and rear hydraulic steering systems for the ultimate in big truck reliability.

Fabricating huge and beefy chassis and suspension systems isn't the only thing that this crew does well. The shop took a set of molds that GM built a year ago for Dale Earnhardt Jr's '07 SEMA truck, modified them to stretch long enough to fit the long bed on the Bigfoot truck, and then laid up their own parts. The hand-laid fiberglass fenders and bedsides flare out nearly 4 inches to keep debris from the massive rollers from destroying the new paint. The shop also sprayed the base color and graphics on this truck in-house. That eye-popping DuPont paint is also a blessing and a curse; the matte finish prompted spectators to put their greasy paws all over the lower parts of the body that they could reach during the show. Consequently, the Bigfoot crew spent a considerable amount of time wiping fingerprints off of the truck during the show.

The final touches on this domesticated beast make driving it a reality. The drone of the big Firestones is easily drowned out via a sizable Sony Xplod audio system. The system is powered by two amplifiers and backed up by several sets of component speakers and 10-inch subwoofers, which accompany the visually enhanced interior. Factory leather seating from a Chevy Tahoe keeps things simple and comfy, and the rest of the pop comes from carefully color-matched interior panels.

The Bigfoot Silverado is bigger than most and a cut above the class. Otherwise, GM would not have bestowed the coveted Design Award for Best Truck on it, and Mothers wouldn't have kicked-in its Shine award for that bitchin paintjob. Just seeing this truck makes us want to head to the stadium and hunker down with a cold one while the Bigfoot team takes to the air to crush a row of school buses!